The 1975 are one of the most popular bands to emerge from the UK in the last decade and their frontman Matty Healy has just become the latest in a long line of celebrities to embark on their BJJ journey. He was spotted training in the safe hands of Alex Smith, a black belt under Kev Capel and a coach at the Roger Gracie Academy. Naturally it’s early days so it’s impossible to say just how long that Healy will be keeping himself involved in the sport, but he joins several celebrities that have trained at the Roger Gracie Academy.
In fact, Russell Brand recently received his purple belt in BJJ from another veteran black belt under Roger Gracie, Chris Cleere. It’s these kinds of connections with the celebrity world that have allowed several BJJ figures like Roger Gracie to start enjoying some of the perks of that life like being invited to film premieres. While BJJ seems to be most popular with actors above all else, Healy wouldn’t be the first musician to fall in love with the sport of course.
Fellow frontman Maynard James Keenan has been training BJJ for an incredibly long time alongside his day-job for tool and has even reached the rank of brown belt in the sport, while American rapper Action Bronson recently received his blue belt in BJJ under Ryron Gracie. It remains to be seen how long that Healy will stick with the sport but he certainly has a busy schedule ahead of him. The 1975’s fifth studio album ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’ is due for release in October 2022 and the band will be going on tour in the US to support the release for the final two months of the year.
The photo of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy after one of his first classes in BJJ was uploaded to the official Instagram account of Alex Smith:
